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Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time Boy Genius and Engadget got their hands on some renders from Danger that seem to be the upcoming Sidekick 4 and Sidekick Slide. The Slide, seen in a domain registered by T-Mobile, looks to be fatter than the regular Sidekick 4/Sidekick 3 we’ve seen before.
The Sidekick 4, if these renders are correct, has a wide screen that fills out the entirety of the middle section, and pretty much keeps the same-ish face buttons as the 3. But with great messengers like the Helio Ocean upping the ante for QWERTY phones, what’s the next gen going to bring to the table that we haven’t already seen? – Jason Chen
Sidekick RAZR, and Sidekick Slide surface [Boy Genius Report via Engadget Mobile]
Remember the Ultimate Xbox 360 Racing Setup? VRX cuts all of that do-it-yourselfness out of the equation with their VRX Triple Screen Limited Edition 001. Here’s what you get.
galleryPost('vrxracing', 4, 'VRX Xbox 360');
[UPDATE: This ain't no Flash plugin. Read on.]It’s no secret that our gold standard for mobile browsers is full Youtube support. Apparently, that ain’t happening because Flash is a CPU and mem hog. So opera is working on a replacement plug in so phones can get in on some mobile video plugin action.The new technology will add video capability directly into the Web browser, so that users can see and play back video content directly in Opera. As of yet, Opera has not commented on whether or not the new native playback ability for Opera Mobile will be able to play existing Flash content.
glumbert.com – Japanese Tetris
Man, I love Japan so much. What other country would have a game show that consists of contestants dressed in metallic spandex trying to squeeze through moving walls with holes obviously smaller than they are carved into them? Although I’ve gotta admit I lost some respect for those contestants when none of them just dove through the middle of the cut-out shapes. You could have fit, guys!
Oh, it’s OK. I can’t stay mad at you. –Adam Frucci
Japanese Tetris brings a new meaning to getting into a game… [Shiny Shiny]
Essentially the female version of the 8-Bit Tie, these “Stolen Jewels” designs from Mike and Maaike are pixelized jewelry that you can actually wear. Sure, they look like they’re either made out of paper or cheap cloth, but it’s the idea that counts.
However, even though they look cool to you, if you ever get your wife these instead of real jewels, well, take a look at that video again. – Jason Chen
Designer Page [via Mocoloco via Yanko Design]
Who said great gadgets need to be complicated? For instance take a look at the Foot-dustpan. There isn’t a circuit, battery or hell even a moving part on the thing. But the
Never again will you have to bend to the ground in order to sweep up. Just shove your foot in between the handles and boom you’ve got yourself a steady dustpan. Catch a pic of the unit after the jump.
At first glance, the Universal Remote MX-810′s $399 price tag would turn off people who are used to Logitech’s useful, but affordable, line of universal remotes. The 810 does have RF and IR, 44 hard buttons, “easy” shortcut buttons like DVD, DVR, All On/Off and the ability to control 24 devices and 24 activities for each.
Still, for almost half a grand, you’d probably expect a giant touchscreen like the Logitech Harmony 1000, and for a remote with a bunch of hard buttons, you’d probably go with a $50 low-end Logitech Harmony. But we’ll reserve our judgment for when we can actually play with it. – Jason Chen
Product Site [Universal Remote via Electronic House]
DARPA, the future-leaning research branch of the Pentagon, wants a legion of little robotic wireless routers with tank treads. Called Landroids (adorable!), they would be dropped in urban warfare areas and would move around on their own to blanket an area with wireless coverage.
The cute little buggers would be disposable, meaning if one gets blown up, the others will rearrange themselves to make up for the loss of coverage. Say what you will about our nation’s military, but at least they want to make sure our soldiers have solid access to email, YouTube and pornography. God bless America. –Adam Frucci
This Microsoft patent for acoustic caller ID seems ingenious. Instead of relying on the phone company to ID by easily spoofed phone numbers, the system IDs by voice. That way, callers can be identified from whatever line they call from, cell, voip, landline, and gas station pay phone. Of course, that means the caller has to actually talk before the person picks up the phone.
So smart, yet so dumb.–Brian Lam Patent 7,231,019: Automatic identification of telephone callers based on voice characteristics [USPTO via Wired]
Chances are I’m a little biased here (being a born and bred NYer), but this is my favorite iPhone ad to date (even if it’s not official). It shows NYers throughout the city talking about Apple’s incoming baby. Yeah, it has a lot of NY stereotypes and it assumes NYers have nothing better to do that sit in Union Square waiting for the iPhone, but I think it beats the official cutesy ads. And the song is catchy. What do you guys think? – Louis Ramirez
